


sugar

by andromedagalaxy



Series: Philkas College Verse [19]
Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 00:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11002245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andromedagalaxy/pseuds/andromedagalaxy
Summary: “I feel like I haven’t seen you in eight hundred years,” Lukas’s voice says, from the other side of the door.Philip smiles to himself, glancing over his shoulder.“Ever since you finished your darkroom, also known as our laundry room, I feel like you’re cheating on me,” Lukas says.Philip snorts, looking up at the prints he has hanging up to dry. “Yeah,” he says. “I’m cheating on you with you. About—ten or twelve of you.”





	sugar

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in eight hundred years,” Lukas’s voice says, from the other side of the door.

Philip smiles to himself, glancing over his shoulder. 

“Ever since you finished your darkroom, also known as our laundry room, I feel like you’re cheating on me,” Lukas says. 

Philip snorts, looking up at the prints he has hanging up to dry. “Yeah,” he says. “I’m cheating on you with you. About—ten or twelve of you.” He’s got one more in the developer and he’s watching it closely. This one is his favorite—a picture they took of the two of them kissing. He’d set up the camera on the counter on a timer and he and Lukas just stood in front of it and kissed. They’d gotten into it, gotten distracted, and when Philip finally remembered why they were making out in front of their kitchen counter he was excited to see how the photo turned out.

He stares down at it and his heart swells. Lukas is pressing his palm against Philip’s lower back, his other hand resting along Philip’s jaw. Philip remembers melting into the kiss and he can see it in the picture. It’s one of the best things he’s ever looked at and he’s terrified he’s gonna fuck it up. 

“Sounds like a party in there,” Lukas says, and Philip can tell he’s sitting on the ground outside the door. “Hope they’re having a good time.”

Philip moves the print around in the chemicals. He’s got one in the stop bath too, a close-up of Lukas’s face. He stares down at it, smiling to himself. “I am particularly in love with your left eye,” Philip says.

Lukas laughs. “Just the left one?”

“Both of them,” Philip says, moving the print of Lukas’s face over to the fixer. “But the left one is just like, beautiful. So intent.”

“I’ll try to take good care of it,” Lukas says. 

Philip tries to take the picture of them kissing out of the developer as easily as he can, letting it drip for a few seconds before he moves it to the stop bath. 

“I miss you,” Lukas says, whining. “I don’t even know what you’re wearing today, that’s how long it’s been since I’ve seen you.”

“I’m almost done,” Philip says. “Just one sexy one of you and the one of us kissing.”

“I don’t like you playing with chemicals,” Lukas says. “It makes me nervous.”

Philip grins to himself. “I’m just fine, sugar,” he says, and immediately cuts his eyes to the side. Lukas has a lot of nicknames for him, including _baby, angel face, sun and stars, sunshine_ , but Philip pretty much sticks to calling him _babe._

“Did you just call me sugar?” Lukas’s voice asks, tentatively. 

“Uh,” Philip says, looking down at the picture of Lukas again. “Yes. Yes I did.”

There’s a silence and Philip feels a bit like an idiot.

“I like that,” Lukas says, clearing his throat. “I, uh…really like that.”

Philip’s cheeks go hot and he looks down at the picture of them kissing. He chews on his lower lip and sighs to himself. 

“I like that so much that I want to kick down the door and ruin all your film and do you on top of the dryer.”

Philip snorts. “You better not, I swear.”

Lukas groans loudly and Philip can hear him scratching at the wall. “Baby, please. This feels like Romeo and Juliet except I can’t see you on your balcony.”

Philip feels a longing for him that is ridiculous. Everything about their love is ridiculous. He misses Lukas when he’s two feet away. He feels like he can see the future in his eyes. He wants to take thousands of pictures of Lukas and paper their walls with them. He wants to see him everywhere, always, and he knows he’s ridiculous. But he never thought love would feel this way. Every single grain of sand reminds him of Lukas. Every cloud in the sky. 

He wants to walk over to the door and press his ear against it, but he knows he has to keep an eye on the pictures. He pushes the picture of Lukas around a little bit and then moves on to the washing part of the process. “Why am I Juliet?” he asks. “You’re the princess.”

Lukas hums. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do,” Philip says, grinning. He never feels like he’s doing the washing part right and brings the tank over to the sink, starting the running water. 

“I vaguely recall,” Lukas says, knocking softly on the door, “you calling me a white knight. The fairest knight of them all. Beautiful, blond, shiny—”

“No, no, no,” Philip yells, looking over at the kissing picture to make sure it hasn’t spontaneously combusted. “No drunk Philip quotes, Lukas, those don’t count.”

“Oh, they count,” Lukas says, laughing. “Because drunk Philip is precious.”

“More precious than regular Philip?” Philip asks, trying to stick to the washing method he knows. 

“No,” Lukas says. “No one is more precious than regular Philip. Not even drunk Philip or hungry Philip, who are both pretty fucking precious.”

Philip looks up at the array of pictures he has hanging on the line. He’s so lucky Lukas puts up with his shit—constantly wanting to take pictures of him, pose him, make him do things so Philip can capture it. But the smile on his face in all the pictures is so genuine, and Philip’s heart swells. He’d lost a couple pictures in the beginning when he first started doing this in Tivoli, and he tries to pay more attention now so he doesn’t lose anything that has Lukas’s face on it. 

Which reminds him of the idea he’d had, when he was roaming around The Met at midterm time. “So you know I have to do a portfolio to graduate from the photography major, right?”

“Look at you, thinking over three years into the future,” Lukas says. “Or lemme rephrase, listen to you, because you’re in a dark room and I’m out here depressed. What if I wanted to do laundry?”

Philip scoffs. “Yeah, like you ever actually want to do laundry. You’re usually the one whining to me to do yours, bartering with kisses and snacks.”

“Snacks I make in the oven myself, because I’m the only one who cooks around here,” Lukas says.

“Not gonna dispute it,” Philip says. He glances over at the picture of them kissing, absentmindedly continuing to work on the close-up. “I want to, uh—I want my portfolio to be focused on you. Like, you in New York through my eyes.” There’s no answer and Philip shifts from foot to foot. “You think that’d, uh—that’d be okay?”

There’s another brief silence. “You don’t think it’d be boring?” Lukas asks. “Like, wouldn’t pictures of me—wouldn’t people want—I mean, I’m boring.”

“Lukas, you’re not at all boring,” Philip says, his heart hammering in his chest. “You look like a goddamn model in all my pictures of you and that’s not me being biased.”

Lukas groans. “Yeah, sure,” he says. 

Philip’s hands are getting tired and he thinks the photo is done. He walks over and grabs two clothespins, clipping it up with the others. “You think, uh—you think I can? Do my portfolio on you?”

“Yeah,” Lukas says. “I’d let you do anything you want, baby. I’m just surprised you’d, uh—want that. New York is beautiful on its own. It doesn’t need me.”

“You’re all the beautiful things,” Philip says, nonchalantly. “My favorite person and my favorite place. I’ve already been thinking about what I want to do. I’ve seen some for the teacher I want to have, they’re really nice and intimate.”

“Intimate, you say?” Lukas asks, and it sounds like he’s tapping on the door again. “You gonna be showing sex pictures to your teacher? Dirty, Philip.”

“Who knows,” Philip says, walking back over to look at the picture of the two of them together. “Lukas, this one of us kissing is really nice. Came out a lot better than I thought it would. Wedding invitation kind of thing.”

“We’d definitely be the types to put a picture of us making out on our wedding invitations,” Lukas says, snorting. 

Philip always gets goosebumps when they say the word _wedding_ , even though they haven’t talked about such a thing in any kind of serious matter ever. He knows they talk about it every time they’re drunk, but those memories are steeped in a haze and he can barely remember details.

“Okay, how much longer?” Lukas asks. “I’m growing very impatient.”

“Half an hour maybe,” Philip says.

Lukas immediately starts groaning, and it sounds like he’s sliding down the door. “You’re killing me.”

“You’re fine,” Philip says, laughing. 

“Will you call me sugar again when you come out?” Lukas asks.

“Yes,” Philip says. “I absolutely will.”

“And I’ll attack your face immediately afterwards,” Lukas says. “Perfect.”

Philip is already thinking about his portfolio. They’ll have to go to the top of the Empire State Building again. And Lukas always looks so happy outside The Met, so that’s a must too. But he knows pictures of Lukas just about anywhere in New York are going to look beautiful to him, even walking through some graffitied back alleyway or tripping over an upturned trash can.

“Next time I’m sitting in there with you,” Lukas says. “I’ll bring in cookies and music and you know you’ll be a lot happier.”

“Of course I will,” Philip says. Because he’s ridiculous. Because he’s in love. Because he misses Lukas even though he’s just steps away, and he’s surrounded by pictures of his face. “Love you, sugar,” Philip calls, grinning.

Lukas groans wantonly. “You’re gonna absolutely kill me with that.”

Philip looks at the picture of them kissing, and knows he’s going to use that new nickname in a different situation that requires them to be a lot closer than they are right now. And he’s gonna do it as soon as he can.


End file.
